What's the deal with all the exploding barrels?

The first time I encountered exploding barrel was in the original DOOM, released 25 years ago. I don't know if exploding barrel was a thing in games older than that. I've played plenty of them, but I don't ever recall them being there, or a common gameplay gimmick. There might have been one in Mappy, but my Mappy memory isn't what it used to be.

But ever since the popularity of the original DOOM, it seems like every first-person shooter felt it was just par for the course to scatter explosive barrels of miscellaneous unstable goo around the stages. I can understand if there are barrels full of fuel near a hangar or a garage, but they seem to just show up everywhere.

"Office building? I think it needs some explosive barrel."

"See that kitchen? Put explosive barrel there."

"Hey look, a nursery! Why not? Throw explosive barrel in there!"

Look, I like shooting stuff in FPS games that blows up big as much as the next guy, but at some point is just seems silly. Cliche? They were cliche by the late 90's. We're long past cliche.

In recent years, I have witnessed the frequency of explosive barrel dialed back a bit. Perhaps the novelty has worn off? Maybe people realized how stupid it was to place a bunch of highly explosive barrels inside the munitions bunker. Maybe focus groups of 13-year-old Minecraft fans bemoaned how 'last year' explosive barrel is in 2018.

So perhaps explosive barrel is finally waving farewell. You were fun while you lasted, but I think the sun is finally setting on your popularity. It was fun while it lasted, but its time to say goodbye.

Explosive barrel, we'll miss you.

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

_{^{Cover image: TV Tropes}}